


Professional Jealousy

by carolinecrane



Series: down is where we came from [34]
Category: Glee
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-11-25
Updated: 2010-11-25
Packaged: 2017-10-13 08:55:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,557
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/135465
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/carolinecrane/pseuds/carolinecrane
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It’s weird, and there’s not really any way around that. It’s the waiting out the weird that’s tough.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Professional Jealousy

Finn doesn’t spend the night at Will’s place. Not that he’s expecting to, but he wasn’t really expecting to have sex with Will, either, and once he’s been in Will’s bed he thinks it might be kind of nice to wake up there. With Will. And then maybe have some more sex.

But Will never mentions it, and when Finn starts making noise about getting to the shop early so he’ll have time to replace Will’s timing chain, Will doesn’t reach for him and pull him back and say, “Stay,” like they’re in one of those cheesy chick flicks every girl he’s ever dated has made him watch.

Will just stands by while Finn pulls his sneakers back on, then he leans in and kisses Finn goodbye and shuts the door behind him. It’s a good kiss and all -- great, even, what with Will’s fingers sort of petting the hair at the back of his neck and the way Will kind of lingers and does that forehead thing again, like he’s having a little trouble letting Finn go -- but after it’s over, he just smiles and says _see you tomorrow_ and...well, kinda shuts the door in Finn’s face.

And it’s cool, because this thing between them is brand-new and maybe they both could use a little distance to sort things out. Except Will’s the one who said he’s been thinking about it for _years_ , and the last thing Finn wants is distance.

He doesn’t really feel the need to sort anything out, either. He likes Will, likes hanging out with him and talking to him, likes watching Will smile and now he knows that he likes making Will moan his name and beg for more, too. Finn’s pretty sure there’s nothing wrong with any of that, so he doesn’t really see why they’d need to go to their separate corners and meditate about it or whatever.

Still, it’s not his place, so he doesn’t invite himself to stay over. And anyway, at least if he wakes up at home and stumbles into the kitchen like he does every morning, his mom won’t ask a bunch of embarrassing questions about where he was all night.

She walks in while he’s pouring a cup of coffee, wearing that ratty bathrobe she’s owned for as long as he can remember and it takes him a second to remember that she’s off work all week because tomorrow's Christmas Eve.

“Morning, honey,” she says, brushing a kiss across his cheek and reaching for her own cup.

Finn takes a seat at the table and watches his mom move around the kitchen. She opens the fridge and pulls out a carton of that egg substitute stuff they all eat now because of Burt’s heart, then some low-fat cheese and a package of mushrooms. He sips coffee from a mug shaped like Rudolph and watches her heat up a pan, spraying it with that no calorie stuff Kurt insisted on when his dad first came home from the hospital all those years ago.

It’s kind of weird, how much things have changed since it was just him and his mom. The food’s changed a lot, that’s for sure. When it was just the two of them there was no low-fat cheese in their fridge, for one thing, and he didn’t even know what egg substitute was. He’s still not all that sure, because his mom claims it's just eggs, but if that’s true then what’s the point of putting it in a carton?

He’s glad his mom has Burt -- he’s glad _he_ has Burt, and most of the time it’s kind of cool to have a brother, too -- but it took awhile for him to get used to how different everything was after his mom and Burt got married. It’s not just the food; it’s sharing a room with Kurt, and even though Kurt doesn’t live at home anymore, Finn still feels like it’s Kurt’s room a lot of the time. Like Finn doesn’t _really_ belong, even though he knows for a fact he’s the only one who ever thinks that.

And maybe it was the fact that things were still kind of touch and go, health-wise, right after Burt and Carole got married. His mom was focused on Burt because she was scared she was going to lose him; Finn gets that now, and he mostly got it in high school, too. But he was still kind of a jerk about it sometimes, and he wishes he’d known then that even though Burt’s not his real dad, he’s the best stepdad Finn ever could have asked for.

Most guys wouldn’t have been so cool about their stepson turning out to be...well, not straight, anyway. And yeah, okay, Burt raised Kurt and all, but that doesn’t mean he had to show Finn how to change out a timing belt or give him a Camaro manual just so he can fake his way through dates with the guy he’s trying to impress.

He doesn’t notice he’s blushing until his mom frowns and sets down the plates she’s been pulling out of the cabinet and presses a hand to his forehead. “You feeling okay, hon? You look a little flushed.”

“Yeah,” Finn says, setting Rudolph down on the kitchen table and looking up at his mother. “I’m good, Mom. Really.”

“If you say so,” she says, but she doesn’t sound like she believes him. And it’s stupid to get all worked up just because his mom thinks he’s coming down with something, but suddenly he sort of wants to cry. He doesn’t even know why, but between sex advice from his brother and relationship advice from his stepfather and the fact that Will’s been into him for who knows how long...well, he’s had a pretty full week.

“I think I’m in love with Will.”

His mom’s got her back to him again, fussing with the omelet she’s making, but when she hears Finn she sets her spatula down and turns to look at him. “Will...Schuester? Your teacher?”

“My friend,” Finn says, because high school feels like a long time ago, and Will hasn’t been his teacher in years. “Boyfriend, I guess.”

“How...when did this happen?”

Finn can’t tell if she’s asking when he fell for Will specifically, or when he decided he likes guys. The answer’s sort of the same, either way, so he just shrugs and picks up his coffee again. “I’ve been thinking about it for awhile now. But I just told Will yesterday.”

“So this hasn’t been going on since...”

“Will hasn’t been perving on me since high school, if that’s what you mean.”

He hasn’t, at least as far as Finn knows, and even if he did see something in Finn back then, it’s not like he ever did anything about it, even once Finn was legal. He’s been waiting this whole time for Finn to make a move, and yeah, Finn gets why, he gets that it’s weird for Will. It’s weird for both of them, and Finn doesn’t even know how weird until he sees his mom’s reaction.

“Oh. Well, good.”

Carole sits down heavily in the chair across from him, dazed and sort of tired looking and now Finn feels a little bad for dumping this on her on top of Kurt’s wedding and all. He stands up and crosses to the stove, rescues the omelet she’s forgotten and slides it onto a plate before he turns off the burner.

“But you’ve never dated...I mean, you’ve only dated girls. Haven't you?”

“Yeah.” Finn sits down again and picks up his coffee, turning the mug around in his hands until Rudolph’s nose is pressed into the center of his palm. “I haven’t connected with anybody since high school, though, you know? With Will...”

He pauses, the words _it’s easier_ right on the tip of his tongue. And it’s not, really. Dating girls is easier, which is why he hasn’t even let himself consider any other possibilities. But with Will it’s _better_ , more comfortable when they’re together and it all just kind of fits.

Finn shrugs and risks a glance at her, but he can tell she doesn’t get it. She’s got the same look on her face that she did right after she found out Quinn was pregnant, only this time the situation’s not just going to go away. The funny thing is that Puck’s kind of to blame this time too, and Finn would laugh about it, but his mom’s looking at him like she thinks maybe his life’s kind of over.

“I thought maybe you were just having trouble getting over Rachel moving to New York.”

“Rachel left like three years ago.”

It would be pretty pathetic if Finn was still moping around about her after three years, especially considering their relationship was over before she even left. Maybe if they’d been more solid she would have left even earlier, but in the end she just hung around to try to hang onto whatever she hoped they still had.

Maybe if Finn had been honest with her -- with _himself_ \-- way back then, she would have moved on right after high school.

“Is this because Will’s a guy?” he asks, and it’s not like he really believes that, because his mom loves Kurt and he knows she’ll always love him too, no matter what. But she’s still looking at him like she’s never seen him before, and he can’t pretend that doesn’t hurt.

“No, of course not. I mean...it’s a surprise. You have to give me some time here, Finn. This is kind of out of the blue.”

And okay, she’s probably got a point. Burt’s handling the whole thing a lot better, sure, but like he said, he lived with Kurt for eighteen years. Carole barely got two before Kurt bailed for New York and then L.A., so she wasn’t even really used to the idea of him before he wasn’t around anymore.

Finn...well, he’s always just done what he figured people expect him to do, and this is maybe the first time in his life he’s doing what he wants and not worrying about everybody else. Still, it’s his _mom_ , and he wants her to be okay with this. He wants her to be happy for him, because he thinks he’s got a shot at being happy for once.

“So you’re okay with me and Will?”

Carole blows out a heavy breath, and Finn’s known her his whole life, so he knows what that means. It means she’s about to tell him something she thinks he doesn’t want to hear, like maybe she’s really not okay with it. Finn feels his whole body tense, and when she starts talking it doesn’t get any better.

“You’re an adult now, Finn, and I can’t tell you what to do anymore. But Mr. Schuester... _Will_...he’s older and he’s known you since you were just a kid, and I’m sorry, but I’m just having a little trouble understanding how all this happened.”

“Look, I get it, “ he says, and he doesn’t, but he’s trying to. "It’s a little weird. Believe me, Will’s more freaked out about it than anybody. Whatever you’re thinking about him, he’s probably thought it about himself at least ten times. But he stopped being my teacher a long time ago, Mom. For the past few years he’s just been my friend, and now...”

He pauses and watches her face for a sign that she gets it, even a little, but she’s still looking at him like he just told her he’s thinking about enlisting. Or worse, moving to L.A.

“I love him, Mom. It sounds totally weird and I don’t even know if he loves me back, but I’m not going to stop just because it would be easier to be with some girl.”

“Honey,” Carole says, and he knows she’s trying, but the way she’s looking at him makes his chest ache. “I want you to be happy, you know that. I love you more than anything in this world, Finn. You’re...”

He knows what she’s about to say; she’s going to bust out the speech about how he’ll always be her baby boy, no matter how old or freakishly tall he gets. So it doesn’t matter that the kitchen door opens and Burt walks in, freezing and looking between the two of them, then at the coffee pot, like he’s not sure whether it’s worth the risk.

“Hey,” Finn says, giving Burt a weak wave and picking up the Rudolph mug that’s still half-full of lukewarm coffee.

“Everything okay?” Burt asks, hand on Carole’s shoulder and when she reaches up to cover it with her own without even looking, Finn’s chest tightens for a totally different reason. Because he _wants_ that with someone -- with _Will_ \-- and he knows his mom wants that for him, but if she can’t be okay with the person he chose, he’s not sure where they go from here.

“Finn’s dating Will.”

“Yeah, I heard,” Burt says, and Carole does look up at him then, but her hand leaves his and then his hand slides off her shoulder, and Finn winces and thinks about making a break for it, even though he knows it makes him a total coward. “Finn, you find out what he needs for the Camaro?”

“Yeah...uh...he’s just gonna stick with a chain.”

Burt nods and heads for the coffee pot, reaching into the cabinet to pull out the Santa mug and pour himself a fresh cup before he answers. “Why don’t you go get dressed while I talk to your mom. Then we can head into the shop and I’ll make a couple calls.”

Finn nods and stands up, abandoning Rudolph and turning toward the door. He’s halfway there when he thinks better of it and turns around, crossing back to his mom and leaning down to press a kiss to her cheek. She reaches out and closes her hand around his, just for a second, and Finn swallows hard and straightens up again.

“I love you, Finn, you know that.”

“Yeah, I know, Mom. Love you too.”

He turns and walks out of the kitchen, down the hall and down the stairs into the basement. He takes his time pulling on his clothes and he doesn’t even think about trying to listen in on the conversation going on in the kitchen, because he’s pretty sure he doesn’t want to hear whatever they’re saying.

~

There’s a guy a couple towns over who specializes in rebuilding and customizing sports cars. Muscle cars, mostly, according to Burt, which explains why he’s the only shop in the area with the right timing chain in stock.

It’s a forty-five minute drive, and the guy offers to put the part Will needs on a truck and have it delivered to Burt’s shop next time his guy’s out their way. Professional courtesy, Burt calls it, and it’s nice and all, but Finn doesn’t mind the drive.

It gives him a chance to think about stuff, anyway, and it gets him out of the shop and away from the looks Burt keeps shooting in his direction. He hasn’t said much; they drive separate cars to the shop, and even once they get there all Burt says is, “Your mom just needs a little time to adjust, son.”

Finn just nods and doesn't answer, because it’s not like there’s much to say. He knows it’s a lot to swallow, knows it probably changes everything his mom thought she knew about him. Maybe she even feels like he’s been lying to her all this time; sometimes it feels like he’s been lying to himself, so he gets it.

Still, it’s his mom, and he hates that it’s going to be awhile before he looks at her and doesn’t see a sad, disappointed look on her face.

He swallows against a lump in his throat and checks the directions again, taking a right on the next street and spotting the custom shop a block ahead of him. Finn swings into the parking lot and pulls into a spot by the door, then he scrubs his hands over his face and pushes thoughts of his mom to the back of his mind and heads inside.

It’s a small shop, which is no surprise, considering how specialized they are. There’s nobody out front, but as far as he knows it’s a one-man operation, so that’s no surprise either. Finn wanders over to the counter and rings the bell the guy’s got sitting next to the register, then he scans the pictures of classic cars hanging on the walls while he waits.

There are half a dozen pictures of Camaros, some of them newer than Will’s but a few from around the same era. And he hasn’t given much thought to what Will’s car will look like when they’re finally done, but he has to admit that the tricked-out cars in these pictures are pretty sweet. He doesn’t know what Will’s planning for the paint job, but there’s a red one with a racing stripe that Finn thinks he would like.

“Can I help you?”

Finn jumps at the sound of the voice and turns to find a guy about Burt’s age standing behind the counter. He’s wearing a pair of dirty coveralls and he’s wiping his hands on a grease-streaked shop rag, and Finn assumes the guy was under a car when he rang the bell.

“Hi, I’m here to pick up a timing chain set? Burt Hummel sent me.”

“Right,” the guy says, still wiping his hands on the rag as he looks Finn over. “So Hummel’s rebuilding a Camaro for somebody, huh?”

“Well, mostly the guy wants to do it himself,” Finn says, and he’s not positive or anything, but it seems like the guy’s kind of sizing him up. “I guess he drove a Camaro in high school or something.”

“Right, midlife crisis project. We see a lot of those.” The guy nods and reaches for some paperwork and a pen, then he passes them across the counter for Finn to sign.

“No,” Finn answers automatically, and he feels his cheeks start to burn and hopes the guy doesn’t notice. “I mean, he’s not _old_ or anything.”

Instead of answering the guy just laughs, then he tears off a copy of the receipt and hands it to Finn. He disappears through a door behind the counter, and Finn’s trying to decide if he’s supposed to follow the guy or what when he reappears carrying a box.

“Here you go, kid. When he fucks his engine trying to replace the chain, tell Hummel to send him to me. No point in making it any worse trying to clean up after some moron who doesn’t know what he’s doing.”

Finn shoves the receipt in his pocket and takes the box, then he nods a vague thanks and heads for the door. And yeah, Burt warned him that changing a timing chain is tricky when you don’t know what you’re doing, but he wouldn’t even let Finn try if he didn’t think he could handle it. So there’s no reason to think he’s going to fuck up Will’s engine just because some dude he’s never even met before is pissed that Burt’s not sending the Camaro his way.

He doesn’t know anything about it, just like he doesn’t know anything about Will. He’s not even old enough for a mid-life crisis, Finn’s pretty sure. Granted, he doesn’t know when people are supposed to have those, exactly, but he always figured they only happened to people who felt trapped in their boring routines and their dead-end jobs. Will loves teaching, and he has the play and Glee and Finn to hang out with, so there’s no reason for him to feel trapped or anything.

He tells himself that all the way back to Will’s place, and by the time he pulls up outside Will’s building, he almost believes it. And anyway, even if Will did buy the car because he was having some kind of freak-out, that was before they got together. Maybe this thing between them will even take Will’s mind off whatever was making him freak out in the first place, which means that Finn’s...well, in a way he’s sort of good for Will.

Will opens the door almost as soon as Finn knocks, which Finn figures means Will’s been waiting for him. It dawns on him too late that he maybe should have called and let Will know where he’s been all morning, but when Will smiles and pulls him inside Finn decides it doesn’t matter.

He lets Will shut the door and pull him close, hands reaching for Finn’s and he hears Will murmur, “God, you’re freezing” under his breath as he wraps warm fingers around Finn’s own. He might even answer, thinks he says something dumb and pointless like _it’s cold out_ before he pulls a hand free so he can drag Will forward and kiss him hard.

Then Will’s hand is on his cheek, thumb tracing the line of his cheekbone and fingertips brushing through his hair. His other hand’s still wrapped around Finn’s, pressed against his chest and probably feeling Finn’s heart pounding too hard against his rib cage. It’s only been a day since they did this last, not even twenty-four hours since he let Will pull him out of bed and into the shower to make out up against the tiles until the hot water ran out.

It hasn’t been enough time for Finn to miss him, even, but he missed this anyway, missed Will’s mouth and his hands and his voice when he says, “Finn” like it’s some kind of blessing.

Will pulls back, hand pushing through his hair to settle on his neck and just _looking_ , like maybe he missed Finn a little too. “Is everything okay?”

“Yeah,” Finn says, then he looks down at Will’s hand where it’s still resting against his chest. “I told my mom about us.”

He feels the moment when Will tenses, and he doesn’t pull away or anything, but all of a sudden it feels like there’s more space between them. Finn wants to grip the front of his shirt and pull him close again, hold him there until Will figures out a way to make him feel the way he did last night, before his mom and some random jerk made Finn start second-guessing what Will’s doing with him in the first place.

“How’d that go?” Will asks, careful, like he’s bracing himself for something.

Finn shrugs and lets go of him, and when Will lets him Finn tells himself it’s fine, that it doesn’t matter whether Will’s touching him or not. He thinks about the timing chain in his truck and the amount of work he has to do to put Will’s car back together and wishes that he’d just gone straight to Will’s garage and not even told Will he was here.

“She’s trying to be cool with it. I think it’s gonna take awhile.”

“I can’t say I’m surprised,” Will says, nodding like that’s pretty much the answer he was expecting. And that doesn’t really seem fair, because sure, he’s met Finn’s mom a bunch of times, but he doesn’t really know her. “I can’t even say I blame her.”

“What are you talking about? My mom’s not some homophobe, Will. She just thought I liked girls.”

“I know, Finn,” Will says, then he reaches for Finn again, resting a hand on his shoulder at the base of his neck and sort of squeezing, and Finn wishes it didn’t feel so good just to stand there and let Will touch him. “Of course your mom’s not a homophobe; I’ve seen how much she loves Kurt. But it has to be a little strange for her to think of you dating me. She used to come to my classroom for parent-teacher conferences.”

And okay, he’s got a point there. It’s weird, and there’s not really any way around that. But after awhile it’ll seem less weird to everybody else, and someday it’ll even be normal. It’s the waiting out the weird that’s tough.

“She’ll come around,” Finn says. “Burt’s already working on her.”

Will makes a sound like maybe he doesn’t really believe it, but he doesn’t say so out loud. Instead he smiles and squeezes Finn’s shoulder again, thumb pressing into the hollow at Finn’s collarbone and until right now he had no clue that spot was a turn-on for him. Then again, Will touching him in general is a complete turn-on, so he shouldn’t really be surprised.

“I never thought Burt liked me all that much.” Will grins, but it’s a little nervous around the edges, and Finn can’t help laughing. “He didn’t seem to think much of the way I ran Glee when you guys were still in school.”

“Ancient history,” Finn says, mostly because he wants Will to stop bringing up high school. “Seriously, Will, he likes you fine. And even if he didn’t, he wants me to be happy.”

Finn shrugs and looks down at the floor between them, cheeks burning and he’s probably going to regret it, but he says it anyway. “You make me happy.”

When he works up the courage to look up again Will’s staring at him, not smiling or anything and Finn can’t really tell what he’s thinking. He looks a little like he wants to cry, which Finn figures is a bad sign, but then he takes a step forward and tilts his face up to kiss Finn again. Slower this time, like Will’s trying to memorize the feeling.

Finn’s arms slide around him to pull him close, fingers curling around his shirt at the small of his back and parting his lips to let Will in. Will’s hands are in his hair again and that’s another thing Finn’s learning about himself lately: until Will he had no idea he could get off on the feeling of somebody’s fingers massaging his _scalp_.

He laughs against Will’s mouth, and when Will pulls back and grins like he’s waiting for Finn to let him in on the joke, Finn just shakes his head and brushes their lips together again. “I came over here to put your car back together.”

“Right,” Will says, like he’s just now remembering. He lets go of Finn, which wasn’t really the plan when Finn opened his stupid mouth, but he lets Will pull away anyway. “You know, Finn, you’ve really been amazing about helping me out, but if you don’t want to...”

“I already told you, I don’t mind,” Finn interrupts, because he seriously doesn’t need to have this conversation every time they work on the car. “I like hanging out with you.”

Will smiles as he shrugs into his coat, then he pulls the door open and follows Finn out, shoulder bumping against Finn’s as they head to his garage. Finn grins and blushes all over again and tries not to make a fool of himself getting the door of his truck open to get the new timing chain set out. Then he remembers what the guy at the custom shop said, and he takes a deep breath and sends up a quick prayer to whoever’s listening that he’s not about to completely fuck Will’s engine.

~

In the end they get the timing chain replaced with only a few false starts and two breaks to make out. The first time Will starts it with some vague excuse about Finn looking cold and not wanting him to catch pneumonia on Will’s account or something. The next thing he knows he’s being pushed up against the side of the Camaro, which makes him even colder, because hello, freezing metal against his ass, but once Will’s pressed against his front he doesn’t mind so much anymore.

The second time they’re holding their breath while Finn adjusts the timing chain, and when it finally goes in and he gets it set right, he’s so relieved that he just grabs Will and kisses him. He doesn’t tell Will what a big deal it is that it actually worked, mainly because they haven’t tried to drive the car yet so technically he still doesn’t know. Then there’s the fact that Will still doesn’t know that Finn’s basically been faking it this whole time, and Finn doesn’t really see a need for him to find out.

So he keeps all that to himself and kisses Will instead, and Will’s not complaining, so everybody’s happy. Then they put the rest of the car back together and Finn closes the hood and hands Will his own keys, grinning and nodding toward the parking lot.

“Yeah?” Will says, and Finn shrugs and doesn’t say, “it’s now or never,” because he has no idea if anything he’s done to Will’s car in the last two days actually _worked_.

Will slides into the driver’s seat and Finn leans in through the window, working hard not to show exactly how nervous he is that the damn thing’s going to, like, _explode_ or something. “Just take it easy at first. Don’t rev her too hard or anything, and if the timing feels like it’s slipping come right back.”

“Aren’t you coming?” Will asks, then he pats the passenger seat and flashes that smile that makes Finn’s heart stutter in his chest and Finn figures that if the thing’s going to blow up, he might as well go out with Will.

He slides into the passenger seat and holds his breath while Will turns the engine over, then eases into gear and pulls out of the garage. They don’t go far; just around the neighborhood a little, mostly to get a feel for whether or not Will’s got any acceleration or if they’re still at square one. But Kurt’s hunch seems to be the right one, because the engine’s purring and shifting pretty flawlessly between gears, and Finn never thought when he first laid eyes on this car that it could run like that.

Granted, it still looks like shit, but the cosmetics are going to cost a little more than the mechanical stuff, and most of that Will’s not going to be able to do himself. Even with the Boyfriend Discount at Hummel’s Body Shop he’s looking at a pretty big investment, and Finn knows exactly how much he doesn’t get paid to teach public school slackers how to habla Espanol.

When they pull back into Will’s garage he shuts off the engine and looks at Finn, just grinning at him for a full minute, like Finn personally hung the moon or something. Finally Finn gets weirded out enough to squirm in the passenger seat and laugh kind of nervously and say, “What?”

Will just shakes his head and reaches over to take Finn’s hand. “You’re really amazing, Finn. I had no idea you knew so much about cars.”

He should tell Will the truth. He knows he should admit that he just got really, _really_ lucky today, and it’s only because he paid more attention to Burt’s lesson yesterday than he ever did in any of his classes. He should come clean, but he doesn’t, and it’s not because he’s afraid Will will get mad or anything.

The truth is he just doesn’t want Will to stop smiling at him like Finn’s his own personal superhero.

“I’ve picked up some stuff at the shop,” Finn says, and it’s not a lie, exactly, but it’s not really the truth either.

“Do you want to come back upstairs?” Will asks, thumb moving on his hand and he’s still smiling, but it’s softer now, maybe a little nervous. “Or we could go out, grab a late lunch somewhere. Early dinner, whatever. We never did watch the movie.”

Finn looks down at his grease-stained clothes and then back up at Will. He wants to say yes, that they should go back upstairs and forget about food, forget movies and everybody they know and the rest of the world, pretty much, and see how fast they can get back out of their wrecked clothes again.

Only Finn knows that if he goes back upstairs he’s not going home tonight whether Will asks him to stay or not, and as much as a part of him wants to stay, there’s another part of him that knows he should go home and talk to his mom.

“I want to,” he hears himself say, then he looks down at their hands where Will’s thumb is still moving in little circles on his skin. “But I have to go home.”

“Right,” Will says, “of course.”

He doesn’t look upset or anything, but Finn can tell he’s disappointed. It makes him feel a little better about leaving, which is probably kind of selfish, but he can live with that.

“Can I call you tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow’s Christmas Eve,” Will says, blinking at him like maybe he just remembered.

“Oh. Right,” Finn says, but the truth is he forgot all about Christmas again. He hasn’t been able to focus on much of anything except Will the past few days, and the thing is, he doesn’t really care that tomorrow’s the day before a holiday and his mom’s going to expect him to hang around and eat tons of food and watch football with Burt and probably Puck. All he wants to do is be with Will, and he doesn’t even care what they’re doing.

“What are you doing for Christmas, anyway?” he asks, and he probably should know this already, but the truth is he hasn’t thought to ask until now.

“I’m supposed to have dinner with my parents tomorrow,” Will answers. “We usually exchange gifts on Christmas Eve, and once my mom’s had enough wine, she starts reminiscing about my failed marriage and all the fake kids Terri and I never had, and I generally decide to spend Christmas Day watching _Holiday Inn_ alone in my apartment.”

Will laughs and looks over at him, but he doesn’t look like he really thinks it’s all that funny. Finn sure as hell doesn’t think it’s funny, but he doesn’t say so. Instead he squeezes Will’s hand and gets an answering squeeze in response, then Will shrugs and his smile turns a little softer.

“One of the other single teachers usually has a Christmas dinner thing at their place. Kind of an orphan dinner, you know? I don’t know who’s hosting this year. I went the first year after my divorce, but it turned out to be more depressing than just staying home alone, to be honest.”

“Come over,” Finn says before he even knows he’s thinking it, but once it’s out there he doesn’t want to take it back. In fact he’s sorry he didn’t think of it before now, two days before while they’re sitting in the front seat of the Camaro and Finn’s covered in engine grease. “I mean, it’s just more of the same thing from Saturday, mostly, but I don’t think Kurt and Puck have any more mind-blowing secrets you can accidentally spill.”

Will laughs and Finn grins at him, head back against the stained upholstery and he makes a mental note to start looking around for some seats that aren’t quite so gross, or at least don’t smell like somebody kept a goat in the car.

“I don’t think that’s such a good idea, Finn.”

“Why not?”

“You said yourself that your mom’s having a hard time with the idea of...this,” Will answers, gesturing vaguely with their joined hands, and Finn wonders if he stumbles over the words because he feels weird talking about Finn’s mom, or if he can’t get himself to say ‘us’ while he’s talking about him and Finn.

“She’s gonna have to get used to it,” Finn says, and he means it, because he’s not giving up Will for anybody, not even his mom. He thinks about adding _I love you_ , stops himself just in time and lets go of Will’s hand to turn in the seat and face him. “Besides, no matter how she feels about me and you, it’s Christmas. She’d be the first to tell you to come.”

He can tell Will doesn’t really believe him, but he knows for a fact it’s true. His mom’s still not all that crazy about Puck even though he’s still paying a pretty big price for nailing Finn’s girlfriend behind his back, but she welcomes him into her house anyway, because Kurt loves him. So she’ll be okay with Will, because Finn loves him, even though Will doesn’t know that part yet.

“How about I call you after I leave my parents’ place tomorrow night?” Will says. “We can talk about it then.”

“Yeah, sure,” Finn answers. He leans across the console and grips the front of Will’s shirt, dragging him forward until they’re breathing the same air. He pauses with his mouth hovering barely a breath away from Will’s, feels the shiver of anticipation roll through Will’s chest and comes pretty close to saying fuck it and taking Will up on his invitation to go back upstairs.

But if he goes home right now it will give Will plenty of time to miss him, and by the time Christmas rolls around he’ll probably be desperate enough to see Finn to agree to pretty much anything.

Finn’s not sure which of them moves first, but before he knows it the last bit of space between them is gone and Will’s kissing him, mouth open and his hand on the back of Finn’s head to hold him in place. Will’s tongue is in his mouth, Will’s fingers flexing against his scalp and breathing heavy through his nose. Finn wants to climb across the console and into Will’s lap, but there’s a steering wheel in the way and there’s not that much space in the car to begin with.

“You’re sure you have to go?” Will says, breathing the words against his mouth and Finn laughs, because he can’t _believe_ he’s being the responsible one here.

“If I ever want my mom to come around, yeah.”

Will lets out a sigh and closes his eyes for a second, and Finn wishes he could take it back. Because it’s weird, he gets that, but it shouldn’t have to be. It doesn’t make any sense that he could feel like he does about someone everybody else thinks is wrong for him. Well, everybody except Puck, and that’s not much comfort.

“You’re right,” Will says, then he opens his eyes and kisses Finn again, soft this time, before he gets out of the car.

For a second Finn just sits there in the passenger seat of the Camaro, with its weird smell and the stain shaped like the Easter Bunny, and wishes he could fast forward his life until they were past all the weird stuff and the dumb dating rules and they could just be together, without a whole bunch of complications. But he doesn’t have a remote for that, so he finally takes a deep breath and pushes open the car door, then he goes home to face his mother.


End file.
